Conversion of Luminol Chemical Energy to Light Energy
Mon, Charlie
Introduction
Luminol is a chemical that produces light when mixed with an oxidant and an iron-containing compound as a catalyst. This mixture of an oxidant (in this case a mixture of sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide) and a catalyst (potassium ferricyanide) causes the luminol to decay into an organic peroxide and then into 3-aminophthalic acid. This process results in the conversion of chemical energy into light energy.
Luminol is often used for multiple biological and biochemistry testing. Chromatography, immunoassay, DNA probes, and DNA fingerprinting are some of the types of tests that luminal is necessary for. The area of studies that luminal is very important in is forensic science. Luminol helps detect the presence of blood or other fluids containing iron, it can also help detect very small amounts of blood many years old.
Procedure
We took 0.05 grams of luminal and 2.5 mL of 10% aqueous sodium hydroxide. We poured these two contents in 22.5 mL of water. This is solution 1. Next with 20 mL of 3% aqueous potassium ferricyanide and 20 mL of 3% hydrogen peroxide. We poured these two contents in 160 mL of water. This is solution 2. We diluted 25 mL of solution 1 with 175 mL of wate r. With both of the solutions and we retreated to a dark room. We poured solution 1 and solution 2 simultaneously into a funnel attached to a 1-L Erlenmeyer flask. We then observed, and timed how long the light emitted by the two solutions lasted.
Results
Once we put solutions 1 & 2 together the mixture emitted light for 10.23 seconds. The luminol had a dark bluish color.
Conclusions
We were satisfied with the result that we received from our experiment. Both solutions put together did create light energy. The light energy emitted by the two solutions lasted for 10.25 seconds. However, we believe that since we used luminol that was old more recent luminol could have released light energy for a longer period of time. In the future we suggest that the person or persons try to use more recent luminol and see if this would effect how long the light lasts.
Table of Contents
Conversion of Luminol Chemical Energy to Light Energy
Mon, Charlie
Introduction
Luminol is a chemical that produces light when mixed with an oxidant and an iron-containing compound as a catalyst. This mixture of an oxidant (in this case a mixture of sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide) and a catalyst (potassium ferricyanide) causes the luminol to decay into an organic peroxide and then into 3-aminophthalic acid. This process results in the conversion of chemical energy into light energy.Luminol is often used for multiple biological and biochemistry testing. Chromatography, immunoassay, DNA probes, and DNA fingerprinting are some of the types of tests that luminal is necessary for. The area of studies that luminal is very important in is forensic science. Luminol helps detect the presence of blood or other fluids containing iron, it can also help detect very small amounts of blood many years old.
Procedure
We took 0.05 grams of luminal and 2.5 mL of 10% aqueous sodium hydroxide. We poured these two contents in 22.5 mL of water. This is solution 1. Next with 20 mL of 3% aqueous potassium ferricyanide and 20 mL of 3% hydrogen peroxide. We poured these two contents in 160 mL of water. This is solution 2. We diluted 25 mL of solution 1 with 175 mL of wate r. With both of the solutions and we retreated to a dark room. We poured solution 1 and solution 2 simultaneously into a funnel attached to a 1-L Erlenmeyer flask. We then observed, and timed how long the light emitted by the two solutions lasted.Results
Once we put solutions 1 & 2 together the mixture emitted light for 10.23 seconds. The luminol had a dark bluish color.Conclusions
We were satisfied with the result that we received from our experiment. Both solutions put together did create light energy. The light energy emitted by the two solutions lasted for 10.25 seconds. However, we believe that since we used luminol that was old more recent luminol could have released light energy for a longer period of time. In the future we suggest that the person or persons try to use more recent luminol and see if this would effect how long the light lasts.
References